The Ghost Companion
by winter129
Summary: The Doctor has a new companion after Bill, but he learns that behind her excitement, there is a side that he never found out about. But at the same time, why does she seem so familiar? Did he meet her? And what do the Time Lords want with her? WARNING: there is content of self-harm and such included in this fic. Although it does not come until much later in the story, be warned!
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Never did she realize that this would be how her life would become. It was all silly really.

Who would have believed that she would be able to travel through time and space so miraculously? Not even he would have expected it, though he said he remembered meeting her in this form.

She did let go of her own past, became happier after a while, a feeling she understood deeply with the man himself. Yet, there was that one part that wished that he could see her again, instead of whizzing past her like a ghost.

Oh well, she thought to herself, as she looked at her own piece of vortex manipulator, she decided to go for another adventure for the day. Maybe she would run into him.

But she never expected it to be filled with danger again…


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: 1st Meeting

"C'mon Donna!" Ten ran outside the TARDIS. He was clothed in his normal brown suit and coat. Today was supposed to be a safe, relaxing trip after so many exciting adventures. Especially since the trip after the run-in with the Ood, they really needed one. On the other hand, Donna slowly came out, clearly annoyed by the puppy-like attitude that the Doctor expressed.

"I'm on my way! Let me get there on my own pace. Don't rush me, you prick!"

As Donna clamored out of the TARDIS, she took a good look around her and was confused.

"I thought we were supposed to be on a planet! Where exactly are we spaceman?"

The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver and entirely looked confused as much as Donna.

"I'm not exactly… sure…" he stated and looked around Donna, who was used to his annoying, adventurous self. She merely gave him her normal look of annoyance.

"Oh, you don't know?" She said sarcastically. She really did enjoy teasing him.

"What?" Doctor asked, "It's not like we are exactly running for our lives this time, are we? I mean—this is interest…." He stopped mid-sentence as he felt a chill in the air. He wasn't sure if he saw the figure correctly, but there was a girl with black/brown (mostly dyed the brown hair before and never tampered with it again), slightly short, but clearly, a human. But what was interesting was that she seemed to fade and appear in a fuzzy way.

"Hello?" He asked. The figure momentarily looked confused but immediately faded.

"Doctor, are we going to stand in the janitor's room all day?" Donna complained. She really did not have the energy for another adventure. But considering the Doctor, it was most likely that this led to another bout of running. A LOT of running. Oh, how she loved and hated that much running. She probably had enough for her own lifetime, but the marvels they saw!

As impatience took over, she stepped out of the janitor's room and marveled at the beauty around her.

"DONNA!" Doctor yelled. Why did she never stay still. The mysterious figure was pushed to the very back of his mind, as he focused on catching up to Donna, who he enjoyed her friendship. She was the one to pull him back and remind him of his own promise to himself. He stopped and saw why she was so excited and jumpy.

They were in a spaceship. A literal "ship".

Of course, this was not the Titanic, but it was still something. This was new, even for the Doctor, this wasn't exactly what he planned, but this would do.

"So, Donna, mind if we go for a little, relaxing adventure?" He said, waving his psychic paper and smiling that usually childish smile of his.

Donna just merely took his arm and they ran together.

It seemed all fine, and nice for almost the entire day. They got a big and nice suite for themselves, Doctor managed to park the TARDIS in the place, just in case for emergency measures. And they also made sure to enjoy and have their own fun.

Donna went to the pool (she always did) to enjoy some privacy. Doctor, on the other hand, took a tour around the ship, conversing with people. But his favorite topic, seemed to be about a female ghost that was rumored to haunt the ship.

He initially heard the story from an elderly couple who had come to the ship because it was their wedding anniversary.

"Hello, dear, you look lost, come here and have some tea." The lady invited the Doctor.

Smiling, he sat down, that was the respectful thing to do, no? And he was itching to know more about this ship.

"Hello, Mrs. And Mr.?"

"Smith"

"Noooo…" Doctor exclaimed. Of course, he chose the name John Smith for its simplicity and common use, but to meet a Smith here, on a futuristic ship, well, it was… how did 21st century humans phrase it, "cool"

"Excuse me?" the couple looked thoroughly confused. They were never questioned their name like this before.

"No, its just that, well—I'm John Smith, so, you know, meeting someone with a last name is.. well, new to me on my travels" Doctor said.

The couple merely laughed. This young man was entertaining enough.

"So, where is this ship headed?"

"Oh, really, it's a cruise ship, traveling in-between planets humans occupy…" The couple answered. "But what we're really here for is the ghost!"

"Edward!" The lady exclaimed, hiding her blush as embarrassment took over.

A ghost? Well…. That was something. The Doctor was instantly hooked. He decided that he would investigate this ghost.

"A ghost? Why would you say that?" The Doctor asked.

Excited that a man was interested in listening to his story, he immediately jumped in to describe how they came to know about the mysterious, supernatural being.

"So, you see, there was this story that a ghost had been lurking around this ship ever since, apparently looking for a doctor,"

The Doctor froze. What? A doctor? Now that was peculiar enough… and in one set of mind, he really wished that it was not a ghost looking for him specifically.

"And anyways, she is not always in one location either, she keeps moving around, not harming people, not talking to them, as if she was out of her depths in this ship. Rather, people would say she looked lost, and terribly sad, as if she has lost all types of purpose of even existing in the first place other than her words, 'I need the doctor' or 'Doctor'. That's it. That's all she says when people are able to hear her. Nobody is able to see her apparently. Nor can they hear her-"

The Doctor had to interrupt at this point,

"Then how did people tell their stories?

"Well lad, she apparently writes them occasionally, as if she's… bored…."

"BORED?"

Now this was getting weird, the Doctor thought.

"So nobody, knows what she looks like, what she sounds like, and what she does here?"

The couple looked at the young man, and both answered, "yes."

...

The Doctor walked around, when he felt something. He looked at the psychic paper, and there seemed to be something scrawled on it. No… he thought to himself. It read:

" _So you're here for a relaxing time, aren't you?"_

Then it changed, and read:

" _I would be careful and leave the ship tonight if I were you. You don't want a ghost scaring you off."_

He looked around, he couldn't place the location of the ghost.

"Who are you, are you really a ghost?"

" _Nobody. Wait, is that what they really call me?"_

The psychic paper answered.

He really hated it when people answered him that way. He tried again,

"In all of time and space, I have never met anyone who considered themself to be 'nobody' so please, be honest with me. And yes, they call you a ghost"

" _Dang… well, here's a simple answer: spoilers"_

"Are you serious? No hint, clue, anything?"

" _You really are cute by the way… But honestly put, this version of you is new."_

Doctor hesitated. This person knew him personally. That was the first clue, he realized it. However, he also did not seem to understand that she really was standing right by him.

"What?"

" _Look, you really need to stop prying about me."_

"Why?"

" _Paradox, duh?"_

"…"

" _Look, just… I did look for you, but not this version of you…but maybe, this is where you do meet me… huh, and yet you cannot see me, unless that was you at the janitor's room."_

"What?"

" _As you like to call it, 'Timey Wimey, Wibbly Wobbly' stuff."_

"WHAT?"

" _Look, just be careful. If this is where you do actually meet me later on, this place is no place for you to be just lazing around and leave Donna alone all by herself. Well, Goodbye."_

With that, all writing stopped despite the Doctor calling out to the mysterious ghost. She knew him. Specifically, she was waiting for him to come around. She said that this place was dangerous. He quickly phoned Donna, and called her to their suite. She really needed to know about what had happened, despite his own confusion, he wanted her to know that she had talked with a ghost. A real, proper ghost it seemed.

...

Donna was angry with him. She had literally slapped his arm so hard that he had to rub it to ease the pain.

"How dare you talk to a ghost without me!" She exclaimed. She really missed out on too much. Every time at that.

"Well, it was sudden, and honestly put, she said that it might be dangerous if both of us stayed here. But, what do you think?"

Donna pondered at the Doctor's question. She really did want to relax, but she decided that she would decide to go with the adventure instead.

"I'll go around and look with you. Might as well learn about where we're going."

And with that, they looked around the ship, nothing seemed off for a while, until they were in the mechanic room and the ship shook.

"DONNA!" The Doctor yelled, grabbing onto his companion.

"DOCTOR, YOU'D BETTER GET ME OUT OF THIS MESS!" She exclaimed.

Then, miraculously, they were transported to the main lobby of the ship.

"What?!" The Doctor yelled. Then, right in front of them, a young girl with a vortex manipulator looked up at them and smiled.

"Who are you?!" The Doctor asked in a hurry, "How did you get us here?" Why she looked so familiar, he did not know.

The girl just looked at him in confusion, as if there was no way he could have seen her. After it became evident that she was visible to the Doctor, she hesitantly asked,

"Can you actually see me?"

Impatient with the lack of a proper response, he said,

"Yes, I could see you. Now who are you and how do you have a vortex manipulator?"

The girl finally cracked a wide grin and she exclaimed,

"Oh this is BRILLIANT! Hey Doctor! Wow, that was a nasty mess you got yourself in there."

"What? Do I know you? Have we met?" he asked.

She looked confused, and then she remembered, snickered, and provided her hand, which he shook with confusion.

"I'm your mysterious ghost."

Donna and the Doctor looked at each other and then exclaimed,

"WHAT?!"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Ship

"WHAT?!"

Donna and the Doctor could not believe their eyes! They were staring at the ghost that they have been searching for all this time. The only problem was, she looked like a proper living person. And Donna, being a curious person, could not withhold this question,

"But you look like you are a proper, real, live person! How are you-"

"Alive?" The ghost asked. Giving them a smirk as she seemed to close her vortex manipulator and turned to face them.

"I'm dead from my perspective in time, but for you Donna, somewhere on Earth, I am still alive. Just haven't reached this state yet." The girl said.

Donna just looked confused and the Doctor took out his glasses and studied her. He started reaching for his sonic screwdriver. In this whole process, the ghost merely stared in annoyance towards the Doctor and told him to not sonic her.

"Oi, Doctor, I would like it if you didn't sonic me? Thank you very much. I had to experience your scrutiny multiple times and you always have that habit of sonicking me. So, stop it."

The Doctor let go of his sonic screwdriver, and fired all of his questions that he had been tempted to ask before,

"So how do you know me? What happened to you? Why are you stuck here—and why do you even have a vortex manipulator? Why are you dead? And why-"

"Whoa slow down cowboy, I will answer as much as I can without complicating the timelines!"

The ghost replied while laughing. Oh she will have fun with this Doctor again. She knew for sure. Calmly, she began telling the Doctor slowly what she could. How the timelines have led them to come to this point and this was his first encounter with her, while this would be her last.

"How do you know this is your last encounter with me?" He asked. He didn't like hearing this at all.

"You tell me. Apparently I don't run into you anymore after this." The ghost replied. And then, as if she remembered something important that she needed to tell him, she scratched her head and then sighed.

"Forgive me, I uh.. forgot to introduce myself properly. My name is Laura…"

Donna thought that this was a pretty normal name for a ghost, "Laura… nice to meet you. I never thought I would be able to meet a proper ghost. But thank you for crossing that part of the checklist that I wanted to fulfill…"

Laura merely laughed, and both Donna and the Doctor noticed that though Laura laughed, she looked somehow, sad and old, as if she felt exhausted. Laura noticed their sudden serious faces, and tried to simplify everything for the two.

"Doctor you probably understand that I can't tell you everything from my perspective. My death was a fixed point in time, and it just so happened that you provided me with a vortex manipulator to lead me to you in this specific place and time. That's all I can tell you for now."

The Doctor merely nodded. And then he also remembered the question he should have been asking her this entire time,

"What did you mean that this place was dangerous?"

Laura looked up at the Doctor and looked at him. "You mean, you don't know?"

He nodded again. And Laura looked more annoyed and frustrated at the moment than resigned. It was as if a burnt out fire had been forced to be lit again. Laura explained in further detail. There was something strange going on in the ship as if the crew had been under pressure. As far as Laura knew, the people that had been working the engines suddenly disappeared a few hours before the Doctor and Donna had arrived. Next thing she knew, there were readings of alien life forms around the ship and she wasn't quite sure what the alien life form was since she could not locate it.

"I tried scouring the place and I could not, find the source of the signal. It surely exists, but I don't know where in the world the alien life form is. Unless it was you the entire time." Laura exasperatedly remarked. She looked at the Doctor, trying to see if he had any ideas about this matter.

The Doctor brought out his sonic screwdriver while Laura had been explaining to him about the life forms and sonicked around to see if he could pick up a signal. He found one. "Got ya! Laura, Donna,…Allonsy!" He exclaimed. Both Laura and Donna jumped at his sudden exclamation and ran after him. Clearly, he knew where they were.

"Oh, the bloody engine room! I thought we just barely escaped this place thanks to Laura?" Donna yelled at the Doctor. She really did not want to go back. Laura on the other hand, persuaded Donna to continue going. Laura had no time for Donna's sarcasm or anything of the like anymore. She had dealt with it when she was alive, and she will deal with it again. Once the trio arrived at the engine room, they walked quietly and found that in a very secluded area, there was a shield that had kept a capsule hidden. The Doctor began studying it when he overheard Donna's sudden concern for Laura. Laura had froze in fear at the sight of the empty capsule.

"Laura? Are you alright?" Donna asked. She did not like the reaction one bit.

"no…" Laura honestly answered. The Doctor, who had been mumbling nonsense in the background, came up to the two, and asked Laura

"Laura, what is this? Why are you so scared?"

The ghost looked up slowly and then answered, with fear and sorrow in her voice,

"That capsule, it's meant for me. They are here to finally get rid of me…"

"Who?" The Doctor asked.

"Who do you think Doctor? That technology, you said it yourself while you were mumbling." Laura answered distractedly as despair came over her.

"Who?" The Doctor pressed her for an answer.

"The Time Lords…"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Last Meeting

"The Time Lords!?" The Doctor replied in shock. His eyes grew wide and there was a silent fury that began emanating from him. Laura recognized that look. She had seen it first-hand with her own Doctor. He marched over closer to her than before and all Laura could do was look down and avoid eye contact.

This Doctor had underlying, negative emotions regarding Gallifrey, guilt-ridden over what happened to the Time Lords. He didn't remember that he had saved it.

"But I thought—Doctor, you told me that the Time Lords were all gone. That you were the last of them…" Donna mumbled. She was feeling scared.

Laura remained silent. She really did not want to explain to the Doctor what was about to happen. The Doctor began feeling impatient.

"Why, if you are telling the truth, would they ever want you?!" The Doctor asked her.

Silence.

"Laura, you will tell me," The Doctor warned.

Silence.

"LAURA!" The Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Laura, tell me, please! I can help you!"

"No, you can't Doctor!" Laura finally spoke back at him.

The Doctor froze and stared at Laura. He saw resignation in her face. He really did not want to see that emotion in someone. He did not want to lose another person.

"If you are thinking that you don't want to lose another person. Spoiler alert Doctor: I already died. You already lost me. But not this version of you." Laura yelled back. She did not want him to try so hard for her. She saw what happens when he loses people he cared for. And this was not the moment for him to focus on her. He had to get out of here. She knew who was coming, and she did not want the Doctor to find out.

The Doctor turned around slowly to look closely at the module that was behind him.

"But how would this make you scared? I mean, it's surely a capsule that would keep you inside, but it would only leave you in stasis until it's opened."

Laura looked over at him and sighed, she really had to explain didn't she?

"Doctor, look at me…" She started. The Doctor looked at Laura and waited for her to explain.

"It's not just any group of Time Lords. It's him, the one you knew and trapped in an alternate universe."

"Wh-" Before the Doctor could finish the question, he figured it out.

"Omega…" He whispered. Laura nodded in silent affirmation.

"Doctor? Who is Omega?" Donna asked. She did not like the look of horror and confusion that came across his facial figure.

"The one person that should not be alive, the one person that I truly feared in my entire life. But Laura, why would he want you?" The Doctor came to and asked Laura.

"It's complicated… you're not supposed to know yet." Laura replied.

"Why?"

"Patience, Doctor. Don't ask anymore." Laura gave him the answer. She just hoped he understood.

The Doctor looked at her. He didn't understand the reference that she gave to him. But he realized that she must be important enough for the Time Lords to take her. He didn't want to let her get taken away, but something in her eyes seemed to scream at him. To stop him from doing anything reckless to save her. Rather, it looked like she gave in despite her wish to not get taken away.

At that moment, Donna grabbed the Doctor's hand and screamed at him. "DOCTOR! Look at that!"

He abruptly looked over where Donna was pointing at and his body froze. No…

In the distance, a crewman appeared tattered and scared. The trio ran over to the man and helped him up as best as they could.

"Wh—who are you people? Why am I here? What happened? Oh god, help me!" The man yelled. Then he got a clear look at Laura and gasped in fear.

"It's you! The one that monster was looking for! Get…get away from me! Please!" Laura just took two steps back and remained silent. On the other hand, the Doctor interviewed the man. But the man just jerked away from the Time Lord and ran away. They could get no information out of the man after all.

"What was that for? Why is he scared of you?" The Doctor asked to Laura.

Laura looked at him and just shook her head side to side. She was indicating that it was a secret to him. The Doctor got impatient but he was too scared to find out.

"Donna, are you ok?" Laura asked the Doctor's companion.

"Yeah, just… you know, not used to the entire secrecy that you are seeming to hold."

"I'm sorry." Laura apologized. She wished that she could tell them, but it would lead to horrible results. Laura finally perked up and smiled, and asked,

"Doctor, where is your TARDIS?"

The Doctor answered and they all went back to the suite the Time Lord and companion had gotten. The TARDIS was there and they all entered the ship.

The Doctor began pressing buttons and got ready to leave the ship as per Laura's request.

"Laura, where would you like to-" and then he looked up. Laura was already about to leave the TARDIS.

"LAURA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The Doctor yelled. Donna jumped at the sudden anger that the Doctor expressed.

Laura just turned around and smiled silently. After a bout a solid minute of silence, and the Doctor's desperate look, begging her to stay, she began talking.

"Doctor, you once took me to see the Northern Lights. It was beautiful, breathtaking. You cried then, saying that you didn't want to lose me ever. That seeing me leave once was enough. But I told you something then, and I will tell you it now. Don't cry, don't ever do anything reckless for me unless it's absolutely necessary. You got that?"

"Laura please don't do this…" The Doctor pleaded.

"Until you find me! See you then!" Laura then left and closed the TARDIS doors behind her.

"Hey old girl, you know me don't you? Take the Doctor away from here." Laura whispered to the TARDIS. As if she understood, the TARDIS began to leave with its usual noise.

"NO NO NO!" The Doctor bellowed, pushing buttons and trying to force the TARDIS to go back.

"Doctor what's happening?" Donna asked.

"The TARDIS is leaving the ship and going a far distance away. I'm trying to go back! We can't just leave Laura there!" The Doctor replied in a hurry. But the TARDIS did not listen to the directions that were inputted into her. Rather, she just continued to get away from the ship.

... _Inside the ship_ …

Laura looked sadly at the place the TARDIS was and smiled. When she turned around and left for the engine room, she saw the one man that would end her life right then and there. Thinking,

" _Until next time…_ " She stepped forward and walked towards the mysterious man in Gallifreyan clothes. And like that, Laura disappeared from the universe entirely.

 **~Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this far into my story! I wasn't sure how this would go. But I wanted to make sure that other than the character Laura and some other original characters that I might add in the future, the Doctor, his companions, and the Whoniverse monsters rightfully belong to BBC. Thank you so much and I hope you continue to read, review, and love this story! Until next time!~**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: After Bill

The Doctor moved around in his TARDIS, pulling levers, pressing buttons, and mumbling that humans never stayed around too long. What was the use of humans anyway? They were like mayflies really… but this type of behavior only took place because The Doctor was tired of losing more companions. He not only disliked it, he hated it to the core.

No More…

He really did not want to lose anyone else. Not any longer. Sure, he could not really remember this certain thing, a certain… Clara, but other than that, he remembered all those companions he lost in the past. Just when would it stop?

All of a sudden, the TARDIS started to beep and materialized onto Earth.

"What in the..?" The Doctor quickly ran to the door and cautiously looked outside to check his surroundings. "How…why would you bring me here and now?" He asked the blue box.

As he stepped outside, he took his sonic screwdriver out and checked his surroundings. Nothing seemed particularly out of the order until he finally got a strange reading.

"Might as well investigate." He grumbled as he closed the TARDIS door around him. Seeing his surroundings and determining by the smell of the place, he determined it was Washington state, 2016.

"The flipping United States… great, now this is the place I just wanted to be." He continued to mumble to himself. He was looking around until someone bumped into him and dropped all of her books.

"Sorry," The girl silently said as she hurriedly tried to collect her textbooks. The Doctor tried to help, but the girl just quickly took her books and left, as if she was scared of interacting with anyone.

The Doctor thought that the behavior was strange and followed after the girl. A little short, around 5 foot 2, black hair, not too skinny, and around her early 20s.

"Excuse me!" He called out to the girl. The girl froze and looked around to see him.

"What is it?" She asked. The girl just looked at him, expecting to hear a question about directions toward certain buildings. After all, this was a college and many people did get lost in such a big campus.

But there seemed to be a long pause and she got impatient. She really did not have time to wait any longer.

"Hello?" she asked. Why was the man just looking around him confused?

"Are you lost?" She continued asking. What was the deal with this old man?

The Doctor was confused. Why would his TARDIS bring him here? And what was it about this girl that really unsettled him? _Think Doctor, think!_ He internally thought to himself. But even after a while, he could not find the answer. He suddenly became aware of his situation when he finally heard the girl in front of him get closer and almost yell, "HELLO?!"

"Ah… yes… hello, what is your name?" The Doctor asked after coming to.

 _What the hell?_ The girl just kind of stared at him in disbelief. She questioned him back,

"Why do you want to know my name? And who are you anyways?" After all she suffered through that day, she really did not want to deal with a stranger, and a weird one at that.

"Ah, sorry about that. Hello, I'm the Doctor. And I just wanted to know your name for formalities and to ask you a few questions regarding this campus." The Doctor explained himself. And he found the girl just thinking for a bit before answering his previous question.

"Laura Park." She curtly answered. Laura looked at the man and she wondered if this man really called himself THE Doctor. But she really didn't have time until her next class started and wanted to leave. She only had five minutes to run to her class before she would be considered late.

"Laura," the Doctor rolled the name around his tongue a few times, and said, "nice name, better keep it. And-"

"Look," she cut him off mid-sentence, "I really need to go because I have a lecture to go to, but if you still want to ask me questions in an hour, I'm free after that, so meet me here then?"

She waited for the Doctor to respond. He had many thoughts going through his head, and he nodded a little, agreeing to the girl. He really hated waiting. He was an impatient man anyway.

For the hour, he decided to have a small look around the campus, and sure enough, he got a strange reading from underneath one of the biology buildings. Strange, he thought. But when it was almost time to meet up with Laura, he quickly headed out.

\- after a while—

"You still want questions?" Laura asked. She was surprised the man had waited for her to come out.

"Yes, I do. It has to do something with the biology building over there? Was there anything strange about it in the past few days?" The Doctor asked really quickly.

Confused, Laura looked at the biology building behind the Doctor.

"You went in there?" She asked, not sure of what to tell this man. Yes, there was something strange, but she, herself only thought that because of the rumors she overheard from the professors.

"Yes. I did." The Doctor responded. From the looks of Laura's thoughtful expression, there seemed to be something that was strange.

"Why should I tell you?" Laura asked. This man was not anyone she knew from the Biology department so it was strange for him to ask her.

The Doctor looked back at the girl in annoyance. "Are you going to answer my question or not?" He replied back.

Laura debated with herself, she felt that if she responded to this man, she would be able to get rid of him a lot quicker. And at the moment, she really wanted to be away from people in general.

"Ugh," She sighed, well, time to tell the man an answer, "There is something strange that the professors were talking about. It's all rumors, but… if you want to know about them.."

The Doctor quickly nodded and urged her to go on.

"Well, the teachers said that animals have been disappearing from the animal testing lab… first, they were small animals like mice, but now, whatever it is that's taking the animals, has taken bigger animals, such as an orangutan… But the thing is, nothing is ever caught on the CCTVs. It's as if something just magically whisks them away." Laura answered.

"Anything else?" The Doctor asked.

In reply, Laura shook her head, this was all she knew as of now.

"Look, I can try to go ask security about it…" Laura offered, all the while in her mind, she was mentally kicking herself. _Stupid Laura, offering to help a stranger that you just met._

"How about you help me get in there?" The Doctor asked. He pointed to Laura's ID card for the Biology department.

 _Oh, brilliant. Just Brilliant._ Laura thought. But for some reason, she just let the Doctor follow her into the building and headed down towards the animal lab when suddenly they heard someone scream from the testing center. As if he was waiting for it, the Doctor ran towards the source of the screaming and Laura followed, hurriedly opening doors with her ID while trying to catch up with the mysterious man.

But once they entered the place the owner of the scream should have been, there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary except for the man's disappearance.

"Doctor?" Laura asked as the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and investigated.

"What in the world is that?" The Doctor looked up in confusion until he realized that she was pointing to his sonic screwdriver.

"This, here, is my sonic screwdriver, works on everything really, except for wood and deadlocked things."

Laura looked dumbfounded as she continued to watch the Doctor investigate. And then she asked another question,

"Where's the man? I did hear the scream right? It's not a hallucination of mine?"

The Doctor looked up to reply back and confirmed that there really was a scream. And when he finally found the answer, he froze.

"No…" The Doctor let out.

"What? What is it?" Laura asked as she approached the Doctor.

The Doctor whispered to Laura very quietly. "Do you think there's something watching us right now?"

Laura looked up at the man, trying to see if he was joking. The man was serious! She breathed out a little slower than usual and nodded her head. After paying attention to her surroundings a little more, it did feel like they were being watched.

"Why do you say that? What is it Doctor?" Laura asked. She suddenly really, really did not want to be in the lab any longer.

"It's the Angels…" he murmured. Laura looked at him disbelievingly. The Angels? What Angels? And suddenly, she felt something and turned around and almost screamed.

"What the! This wasn't here before, from where…" She shouted. The Doctor immediately turned around to see what Laura saw and quickly spoke to Laura.

"Laura, this is a Weeping Angel, it's not a normal statue, it will send you to the past for energy, so please listen to me, don't blink. The Angels move only when they are not seen, so no matter what we do, we cannot put our eyes away from the Angel. Blink and we could be sent to the past and we would have no way to get back to where we came from."

He looked at the Weeping Angel intently and they both started backing away from the Angel. Laura, though she hoped that this was not real, knew that the statue was not there earlier, and had to follow whatever this man said.

"I hope I get an explanation later for this Doctor." She murmured as they were about to run for it. They finally reached the staircase and bolted for their lives all the while looking back to freeze the Weeping Angel from moving.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Laura Who?

The duo finally reached the top of the stairwell and stared back at the door the Doctor was in process of locking.

"This won't stop the Angel, but at least it will buy us some time." The Doctor muttered under his breath. Laura looked as the man finished sonicked the door and walked away from the door in a hurry. Laura quickly followed the Doctor while asking questions.

"Doctor, what is a Weeping Angel exactly? Why can't it move when we look at it? What was it doing in the Biology Lab?"

As if he was expecting it, the Doctor replied back quickly, all the while taking hold of Laura's arm and almost dragging her with him to the TARDIS. He didn't want to get involved, but an Angel was not a good thing to have in such a big place as this college campus.

"A Weeping Angel is the oldest-living quantum-locked humanoid creature. They are almost old as the universe. They are the nicest creatures to kill you. You know why? It's because they send you back in time and you just live your life out as you normally would except for the different time and place taking into the factor. The reason why the Angels cannot move is because they are quantum-locked when we look at it. That's its greatest defense mechanism. The Angel could basically hide in plain sight until it needs to feed and nobody is looking at it. It was probably taken to the biology lab by mistake. In moving the Angel there, it was able to feed off of the animals in the test rooms, but eventually realized that it got a little too hungry and decided to go for one of your professors instead."

The long and complicated explanation confused Laura somewhat. She was not able to quite follow him throughout the entire explanation.

"So you are indicating that this thing, is not from Earth, right?" She further asked.

The Doctor looked down at the young girl who seemed to be taking in everything quite well for a normal, average human.

"Er… yes." He quickly muttered. Laura looked up at the Doctor, who seemed to be taking her somewhere he had in mind.

"Where are you taking me?" Laura asked again. She really didn't know how she got caught up in such a mess. Not only did she have a bad day, it seemed to get progressively worse in her perspective.

"I'm taking you to the TARDIS, there might be a way to stop the Angel." The Doctor replied. They were almost there. With occasional glances behind, he could spot the Angel chasing after them, but also noticed that it was slowed down by the busy city life that had people occasionally looking at the statue in fascination from the office windows.

"The what?" Laura asked. She did not quite understand what the man was saying.

"I'll explain later!" The Doctor exasperated as they finally approached the TARDIS.

"If you are suggesting that we go inside the bo-" Laura was unable to finish as the Doctor dragged her inside to the TARDIS.

He hurriedly began pressing at the buttons on his console. Meanwhile, Laura, who stood near the entrance. She was frozen by the shock of the interior.

"What? How?!" She mumbled and fell silent.

The wooden box was bigger on the inside. She was amazed at how big the TARDIS was and just looked at everything with awe. In a little corner of his mind, the Doctor waited for Laura to say that the TARDIS was "bigger on the inside" but she said nothing. He lost patience and said it himself,

"Yes, it's bigger on the insi-" He couldn't finish his sentence when Laura suddenly asked him questions regarding what he was doing.

"Doctor, what are you doing? What about the Weeping Angel? Are we safe?"

The Doctor finished typing and looked at his scanner. He then went downstairs to pull out some important materials to help destroy the Weeping Angel.

"If I could just get this right, I think I will be able to destroy the Angel. We don't want it roaming around the city sending people to incorrect places do we Laura?" The Doctor asked.

Laura looked on as the Doctor tampered with a strange machine. She merely nodded at his question. She assumed that they were somehow safe inside the TARDIS or that the Weeping Angel was unable to move because it was being observed, and therefore quantum-locked. It was hard to wrap the entire situation that had just unfolded but she remained silent. She did not know what to do and was about to let the Doctor take charge. She was not scared, but she was, in fact, very confused.

"Walla!" the Doctor yelled as the machine began humming.

"What is that?" Laura asked.

"A thing." The Doctor simply responded.

"A thing? A thing that could help us with the Weeping Angel destruction plan?" Laura asked.

"Yes." The Doctor responded, this time with a smile plastered onto his face.

Then they both headed outside the TARDIS and found that the Angel was facing towards the TARDIS and was much closer than before. Laura tried not to blink and tried her best to stare at it as she realized the Doctor was pressing buttons on the machine to conduct his plan.

But after a while, Laura was unable to resist the urge to blink. The moment she did, the Angel pointed at the machine the Doctor was holding, which began to go silent.

"NO NO NO NO NO!" The Doctor yelled as he sonicked the machine.

"Doctor? What's happening?!" Laura asked. Now she was getting a little frightened. She did not realize that the Angel could switch off machines too. Did it have the abilities to control the TARDIS if it wanted to?

"The Angel is shutting the machine off! I could try to work around it, but I need time. Laura, don't blink and look at the Angel for me." The Doctor speedily replied. He continued sonicking and Laura was about to blink when he finally laughed and pointed his machine towards the Angel.

"For your information, I am an expert at these kind of things Laura." He said as the machine hummed louder and the Angel exploded and the shards disappearing from thin air.

Laura looked at the Doctor in confusion and sarcastically said, "What, at making stupid mistakes and almost killing people who are near you?"

"No, at hunting monsters!" The Doctor said cheerfully. He shut the machine off and explained the intricate way he worked around the Angel's attempt to shut the machine off. Soon enough, Laura got tired of it and interrupted him.

"Doctor, what the hell are you? What is that thing that we were inside earlier? And what just happened?"

The Doctor stopped and realized his mistake. He started to explain. He really missed this.

"I am a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I am over 2,000 years old and this beauty," as he patted the TARDIS external structure, "is the TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's specifically a type-40. It can travel anywhere in time and space. And it's mine. And as to what just happened… well, I don't know what it was doing here. Probably just got lost. Stranded. I really don't know. But the campus and the Earth should be safe for now." The Doctor gave his reply.

He then looked at the girl who just looked at him. Something nagged at the back of his mind. He wasn't sure what, but he really wanted to travel with Laura.

"Now Laura, there is the question of what I should do with you." He said.

Laura took one step backwards in silence as her eyes narrowed.

"What about me?" She asked. She was not happy with what he just said.

"Well, as to, who are you? Why do you seem so familiar to me? Have we ever met?"

"What?" Laura asked. She thought about the questions he just asked. She had personally never met this man before. Also, she was not sure if she really wanted to fully explain who she was. But she trusted him. That was the one thing that she knew. She sighed, scratched her head in frustration as she gave in and told the Time Lord about her. Just a little.

"I'm Laura Park. Premedical student here on this campus. Also, I am not a Time Lord if that is what you are asking. I don't recognize you from anywhere so we probably never met each other before." She replied.

The Doctor just stared at her. Well that wasn't a very descriptive answer. Laura was not being completely open with him. And she confused him. He was sure they met. Meant something to him even. But he couldn't quite remember anything about her.

But what was stranger was how well she was taking all this in.

"How are you so calm about this?" He asked frustratingly. He pointed at his TARDIS especially since that was the biggest thing.

Laura looked at the time machine again and a glazed facial expression took hold of her for a split second. The Doctor noticed. But she hid it well and said, "The moving statue of an Angel did me in. I couldn't really actually be shocked about that when life and death are on my doorstep can I?" She asked.

Laura made sense. The Doctor knew this. He wanted to figure her out a little bit more. So decided to invite her into the TARDIS. Maybe she could travel with him.

"Laura, what do you think about travelling in the TARDIS?" He asked.

Laura, who seemed exhausted at this point, looked up at him in shock. Did he just invite her to travel with him? Why? They were complete strangers who just got to know each other a little bit due to an almost impossible situation. Why did he want to travel with her?

"Why?" She asked.

He smiled and responded back, "Because we work well as a team. Don't you think? I barely have to talk and you do all the work because you are clever."

Laura looked at the TARDIS for a long time. A part of her mind wished her to stay. She thought that if she accepted the invitation, she would face dangers that she never knew about. But a growing part of her mind persuaded her enough to say,

"Yes. I'lll go. Time and Space machine right? That means you can plop me right back to tonight if you could." She said.

The Doctor's eyes got bigger as he realized that she had just accepted the offer. "Ah yes, time and space. Very handy. Well then, welcome aboard the TARDIS!" the Doctor said ecstatically.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked. He saw Laura get comfortable with the TARDIS and asked other questions first.

"Don't I need to bring clothes first? How long is this travelling really entail?" Laura asked.

The Doctor answered quickly. Oh, he was enjoying this tremendously.

"The TARDIS provides a full stock of clothing so no; you really don't need to pack. And you can travel with me as long as you like. If you need breaks, I can always drop you off to your place."

Thinking for a while, Laura then looked at the expectant Doctor and said, "Space. I want to see Earth first. Then you can take me to an awesome place of your choosing."

The Doctor was shocked that she wanted to see Earth form space, but smiled and said,

"Then let's go to Space."

With that, he pulled the lever, leading to the classic sounds of the TARDIS dematerializing from its original parked location on the school campus.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: First Trip

The Time Lord opened the door for Laura, who looked outside cautiously. She stepped closer to the door and gasped. She saw it. The planet Earth, not from the inside, but outside, in Space.

"How are we breathing?" She asked. The Doctor answered back like he usually did with this question: "The TARDIS is helping you breathe the air in space. There is a little pocket of air, so don't wander off, because it is not unlimited amount of air supply the TARIDS provides people."

Laura merely looked at the planet in awe. No words came out of her mouth, but the Doctor could see the little twinkle of wonder and excitement in her eyes. She then closed the door and looked at the Doctor for a long time.

"I never thought that I would live to see Earth while in space. That…. That was…" she stuttered. She was genuinely shocked at the encounter. She really had no idea of what to do. But all the while she looked at Earth in awe, the Doctor realized that although Laura's mood had greatly brightened, she did not smile like his former companions did.

Something about Laura reminded him of himself, the way she looked at the world. He wished that he understood what was going on, but he really did not know.

Yet he felt overjoyed at how Laura reacted to seeing her home planet from space. He really enjoyed these moments when his companions first saw things not originally from earth. But this did not seem as entertaining as traveling with danger lurking in his former adventures. As he was thinking this, Laura silently closed the TARDIS doors and walked back to the console. She noticed how the Doctor seemed almost bored. Considering what he had told her, she had questions.

"Doctor" she said. The Time Lord quickly looked at Laura in the eyes. Those eyes questioned her about what she wanted to speak. Taking the cue, she spoke.

"What exactly is it that you do?" She asked.

The Doctor looked at her. She noticed something about him that was strange. Not just human strange, but what he normally did. He liked Laura. She seemed very clever.

"Oh, you know, just traveling through time and space, helping out whenever… Like at your university! I helped out!" He said, looking at her and smiling unnaturally.

Laura looked at him and looked back down at the console. So this man travelled a lot. That was interesting. But at that moment, both realized that they had not completely answered each other honestly. Laura looked at the alien man who just seemed to feel awkward about the interrogation she had in mind. In all honesty, the Doctor did not want to talk about himself. Rather, he just wanted to travel somewhere else. Laura took that hint too.

"Are you bored? With earth?" Laura carefully asked. She knew looks of boredom, That was her daily lifestyle that she could not quite shirk off back at Earth too.

"ME? Bored of Earth and its humans? Never." The Doctor replied back. That was the truth. He loved traveling with humans. Although the humans seemed to dislike this regeneration of him. How did they put it? Oh, the said that he always seemed grumpy. _You look like grumpy cat_ someone had once said to him. He never really understood the reference.

"Fine. Let's make a deal Doctor. How about we never ask each other about their past unless it is completely necessary." Laura offered all the while offering her hand for a handshake.

She waited for the Doctor. He hesitated as he looked at her strangely. Something was ringing in Doctor's head about Laura, but he could not remember what it was. It must have been something so important that he created a paradox. Because, why otherwise would he not be able to remember it? He looked at Laura and then took her hand, shaking it firmly.

"Deal." He said. Then he smiled in sudden joy and asked the important question to Laura.

"Where do you want to go next?"

The girl looked at him funny, and seemed to think. But as nothing came to her mind, she merely shrugged and pointed at him and the console, as if she was saying,

 _You choose._

The Doctor nodded and typed in a coordinate and pulled the lever. The TARDIS dematerialized from her former position, and they smoothly materialized on a different planet. He wanted to show her so much of the universe. He looked at the scanner and smiled. His old girl brought them to the right place this time with no problem.

"Well, do you want to do the honors?" The Doctor asked.

Laura hesitated and then carefully opened the doors.

"Oh, what?!" She whispered in shock.

She saw a whole new surface, did not remotely look like Earth and shocked her. It was a planet in which half was covered in snow, while the other half was covered in sand. Winter-land and a desert on the same place, merely divided by a small difference in the atmosphere.

"Where are we?" she asked. The Doctor restudied the guide and then grew concerned.

"Oh, that's not good" he muttered to himself. It did not go unnoticed by Laura.

She stared at him in disbelief, and whispered to him,

"Where the hell did you bring us?" She asked.

The Doctor looked at her and then back outside. He said, "I don't know. I think…" as he stepped outside and jumped around, "go-" and then they felt the earth shaking beneath them. On impulse, the Doctor took Laura's hand and pulled her out of the TARDIS. Not long after she had been pulled out, the TARDIS got engulfed by the chasm that appeared right where they were standing not that long ago.

Laura froze. Then she pushed the Doctor away and glared at him.

"Oh dear…" the Doctor muttered. He knew what that look was. It was her screaming at him for losing the only means of transportation that could have gotten them off this planet.

"Well, at least I have my screwdriver" he said. Laura rolled her eyes and then looked around her. Nothing. Absolutely nothing seemed to be there. Suddenly feeling as if she was drained of energy, Laura shifted her position so she could feel a little more comfortable. She did not sit down because she did not want to risk another earthquake. All the while, the Doctor had started to use his sonic screwdriver, waving it about the air like a wand.

"Well? Where are we? How are we going to get off this bloody planet, and what are we going to do with nothing in sight? No food, no water, no help! What can we do to possibly get out of this situation Doctor?

The Time Lord looked at Laura as she had been asking all the right questions. But as he was about to compliment her and then explain, a huge cargo ship seemed to be crashing down to the ground.

"Laura, look!" He said as they both were only able to stare in horror as the ship crashing into the sandy area. The ground shook terribly knocking both the Doctor and Laura off their feet. Laura felt the iciness of the snow underneath her, but looked around back at the ship in shock. Not only was it a spaceship that she had only seen in movies and in her imagination, but it also meant that there were people on board when it had crashed onto the planet. A ship would normally not crash into a planet that was void of life. She looked at the Doctor, who stood up and stared with a certain look of sadness. Then as if it had never existed, she saw determination rise in his face.

"Come on Laura, let's take a look." He said.

Laura pondered for a moment. She did not know what could have happened or what or who was in the ship, but if she could trust the Doctor with her life before, she could do it again. It was funny really. She only got to know this man for about a day, and already, she entrusted her survival to this old man. She accepted his offered hand and stood up. With that, they ran towards the ship. They were on their way to help the people in the ship.

"Doctor, what do you think happened to the ship? Or the crew? Why would this ship crash here, a desolate half-winter, half-desert planet?" Laura asked.

"I don't know, but I think we are about to find out Laura." The Doctor replied. In all honesty, he did not know what would pop out for the, but he did wish that this was a simple rescue mission.

The two got close enough to see that nobody had come out of the ship. Rather, the ship itself, remained intact. Curiosity got the better of Laura and she started to get closer when the Doctor stopped her.

"Wait." Was all he said. With that, he used his sonic screwdriver to find out why the ship was intact. When he found out, he groaned in frustration. They had to go in. There was no chance that people were going to come outside on their own.

"We can go in." Was all he said and grabbed Laura's hand as they walked towards the ship.

Laura's adrenaline kicked in, causing her heart to pick up tempo as fear started to settle in her mind. Both held their breath as they passed through passages and crates. But it seemed almost too empty other than the cluster of crates and wires that littered the hallways due to the harsh landing.

"Doctor, where are the people?" Laura asked. The Doctor shook his head and indicated to be quiet.

She nervously looked around her when they suddenly heard a machine whir behind them. The Doctor turned around quickly, shielding Laura. He recognized that noise; it was a gun. A laser gun from Laura's future. He did hate guns.

"Who are you?! How did you get on board?!" The owner of the gun said.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Laura. We saw the crash and came to help." The Doctor replied calmly. But his patience was thinning out as the owner did not seem to let the gun go.

"Put your gun down please." He requested. All the while, Laura just looked at the man in shock.

She had never been threatened with a gun ever before. Not in her own time. But to see a futuristic gun just made it seem worse. People had never stopped developing the weapons. The longer she looked at the gun, the more disgust she felt for the object. However, she also knew that it was probably a sign that the ship did not just crash on its own.

"Doctor," Laura indicated to the old man. He turned around and looked at her. She then continued, "What caused the crash?"

"That's a very, very good question. Now, you, tell me what happened."

The owner of the gun lowered the gun when he finally determined that the two people were not threats, and then annoyed, said "Can't you see, we crashed into a bloody lifeless planet." He said.

"Well, don't speak the obvious! What made the ship crash?" The Doctor said. He was beginning to lose his patience with the man. The owner of the gun was describing how the ship was just a normal cargo ship that was transporting some goods for a museum exhibition to a different civilization. Hearing this, Laura looked up in surprise towards the Doctor, who merely nodded, answering her silent question.

"But then we saw this large ship sending out a distress signal. Whatever was in that ship then boarded ours when we didn't look and started tampering with our controls. That is how we ended up landing here in the first place." The man said, finishing his account of the events.

"Then you didn't see the creature, person, or thing?" Laura asked the man.

"No." He replied back.

"Well, whatever this thing is, it clearly is dangerous enough to make a whole cargo ship crash into this planet without being seen." The Doctor said. He then grasped Laura's hand and asked the man,

"Are there any more survivors?"

The man said there were at least five more survivors. He had contacted them about the new people before he had threatened them with his weapon a while back.

"Then let's go find them. Contact them so we know where they are. While we go looking for them, we may be able to find a way to stabilize the ship so we can find a way to send out a distress signal." The Doctor said. His mind was racing with different routes and possibilities, also looking out for any possible problems that may occur.

While the man and the Doctor were busy locating where the crew were and finding out the safest way to go to every survivor, Laura was standing by listening in their plans when she suddenly heard something scurry in the back.

A mouse? She thought. But then she mentally laughed as mice would not be able to survive in the outside conditions. She thought she must have imagined hearing the scuttling noises, and paid more attention to the rescue plans.

Once the rescue plans were done, the trio trudged through the debris inside the ship's hallways to not get lost or separated. And for the first time in several years, Laura felt a new sensation within her: expectation and exhilaration.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Conversion

Laura followed the man and the Doctor. She honestly did not want to separate the one man that had brought her to this barren planet in the first place. He was her only ticket back home.

But what she could not take out of her mind was the little sounds of something small that seemed to follow them around. She did try to talk to the Doctor about it, but he kept saying, "Later!" or "Not now Laura." This frustrated her as the Time Lord seemed to ignore her. For all she knew, whatever the small thing was, and she predicted that it was not a good thing, it could bring danger to them. Eventually, they reached the center of the ship, and met with four other people.

The captain was a lady who held a more sophisticated laser gun than the others. The others seemed terrified and tired.

"Who are you?" The captain asked.

The Doctor took out his psychic paper and showed them whatever was written on the piece of paper. Laura looked at the Doctor with skepticism in her eyes, not making a remark. It was as if she was saying, "Are you going to explain to me or what?"

The Doctor whispered to Laura, "Psychic paper, they see whatever I want them to see on it."

She looked at him with more doubt. "That can be anything with you."

"What?" he said, looking at the girl.

"I mean how much do you need to focus to make them all see the same thing? It's not like there's only one thought that comes into your mind at once certain time. It seems like that is the case with you more than me." Laura said.

The Doctor looked at the girl. She was brilliant. He smiled, expecting a smile back from her like all his other companions. Instead, Laura rolled her eyes in exasperation and walked back to the crew.

"So, where are you lot from?" She asked.

It was because other than the person from earlier and the captain, the rest of the crew were not human. The Doctor had explained what they were earlier, but she wanted to hear from the crew where they were from. Though she did not understand their reply, she merely nodded and went along with it.

Then she heard the same noise of something small scurrying around.

"Did you hear that?" Laura asked.

The crew looked at her in confusion and went silent, trying to hear what she heard. No sound came back and they all shook their heads. During this time, the Doctor was rummaging through the technology to figure out how to stabilize the ship. All of a sudden, the ship's power went down instead.

"Doctor?" Laura called out with the question of, "What have you done?"

"I didn't do anything wrong. Something… something…" he said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, and continued, "hijacked the system."

Then everybody heard the scurrying noise. It had gotten louder. And seemed to be multiple creatures now.

"Doctor?!" Laura called out in a more alarmed tone. The Time Lord immediately went up to his companion and saw what she pointed to.

It was a cyber-mite.

"Stay near me Laura. That thing is a cyber-mite and is dangerous."

In a distant place close enough to the planet, there was a cyberman ship.

"Cyber Planner, the ship has even more life signals readings from the cybermites!" a Cyberman said.

The one Cyberman that was sitting in one what seemed like a throne then stood up and walked up to the Cyberman and said,

"Those life signals, what creatures are they?"

"Humanoid creatures." The other replied.

Then the Cyber Planner said with emphasis, "Humanoid creatures will be converted. Start preparations for landing."

With that, the Cybermen began to descend their ship to the barren planet.

"A cyber-mite? What does it do?" The captain asked. She did not know what the creature was, but she was ready to shoot it.

The Doctor explained to the best of his abilities. He really did not come across cyber-mites that often. Really, he really came across this kind of thing only with Charlie. Oh how he missed that companion who suffered in one of his toughest times in existence with the anti-time.

Meanwhile, Laura listened in on the explanation, trying to wrap her head around everything that was taking place. From what she could take from the descriptions, it was a slight messenger of sorts that eventually brought in more dangerous creatures from the same type. She realized how the source of the scurry noise acted like a living thing regardless of being a hunk of metal. She saw a small light flashing on the bottom of the cyber-mite. It almost looked a camera of sorts. The more she looked at the cyber-mite, the more she felt unease. It was the same sensation of being watched that she noticed from her run-in with the Weeping Angels.

She tried tugging at the Doctor's sleeves to get his attention, but he continuously waved her off as if he was truly too busy thinking. She got frustrated again and mentally thought,

 _Fine! If you're going to be that way, I'm going to deal with this my way._

With that, she quickly grabbed the gun from the crew member that had found them earlier. The gun fired lasers directly at the cyber-mite, making the creature explode into parts. She finally exhaled when she calmed down from what she had just done. Laura immediately threw the gun back to the man.

"What have you done?" the Doctor asked Laura. He only turned around when the man had exclaimed in shock at what had just taken place. He saw Laura quickly turn around and shoot the cyber-mite with the laser gun.

Laura looked at him straight in the eye and said, "It was listening in on our conversation by recording it. Did none of you notice that?"

The Doctor's look of sudden anger immediately dissipated the moment he heard Laura's argument. The cybermen were listening in on them. He regretted for rambling so much.

The companion merely looked at the old man in hopes that the man knew what he was doing. But it did not seem that way as he looked like he was just super confused. Laura looked around their surroundings. Then went up to the Doctor and grabbed his shoulders so that he now faced her.

"Doctor, what's going to happen now?" She looked at him as he looked back with wary eyes.

"The cybermen are on their way."

The captain then intervened, "Are these cybermen dangerous?"

Laura waited for the Doctor to respond, but he only looked at her with something strange in his eyes. It was as if he was worried about her and regretted bringing her with him at the same time. She sighed and then responded to the captain, guessing the answer for the question herself.

"Yes…"

Everybody then turned to the Doctor, expecting him to stand up and help them figure out what to do. But the Doctor seemed a little slow with everything. He then looked up, realizing that he had spaced out from remembering all those events with the cybermen. He may not hate them as much as he hated the Daleks, but the cybermen were definitely on the top of his list.

"Oh, did I miss something?" The Doctor asked.

Laura scoffed at this in disbelief. Then suddenly, the alarms started ringing within the ship.

"That cannot be good." One of the crewmembers said.

"DOCTOR?!" Laura yelled at the Time Lord. She was beginning to get impatient with the man as he seemed to just only beginning to plan what they had to do.

"Right, so what we need to do is to make sure we stick together and not run into the cybermen. Once we get out of this hunk of metal, we can try to go scour for the TARDIS."

"A what?" the Captain asked.

Laura simplified the definition for the TARDIS by saying, "His time and space machine".

Eventually, the crew altogether were moving around, when they heard a distant robotic voice describing how there was an absence of people in the main control deck. Laura followed the Doctor closely mainly due to the adrenalin that was now pumping through her veins. She was nervous. As they were moving, the Doctor had further explained more about the cybermen and she was terrified. The whole eradication of emotions seemed far worse than she imagined. And the fact that the former humans did not have the necessary emotions but want for converting humans to their kind creeped her out.

But when the Doctor and Laura ran into an invisible force field, something shifted and took form right in front of them. A cyberman.

The Doctor and the rest of the people froze on spot immediately, trying to decide what was a better option: run or hide.

The Doctor then grabbed Laura's hand and said to the group,

"run."

They quickly ran off until the crew deadlocked a door behind them. The Doctor quickly looked over at Laura. He did not want to lose anybody else. He really did not want to get Laura into danger. But as he looked at her, he also noticed that Laura was panting, hands on her knees and seemed to be trying to calm herself down. The Doctor also noticed her face scrunching up for a quick second as if she remembered something and she did not like it. He wondered what it was until Laura suddenly brought a look of seriousness back on. It was as if he was looking at something familiar, but he really could not place what that was.

"Laura, are you alright?" He asked. She merely nodded back in response. He just thought that she could try to be more expressive, but he did not push it. He had a cyberman invasion to deal with.

The crew were restless, they did not know what to do. They talked amongst themselves as if trying to formulate a plan.

"So, how do we get out of this ship to get to your machine?" The captain asked. The Doctor noticed how the woman was scared but trying to be calm about their situation.

"Like I said earlier: RUN." The Doctor replied.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: RUN

The Doctor, Laura, and the rest of the crew were running when they found themselves at a deadlocked door.

The Doctor fumbled with the door, mumbling something about how he hated deadlocked things. Laura leaned against the wall and tried to process the entire ordeal. The rest of the crew were punching into the key code, trying to unlock the door.

That was when Laura heard the cyberman coming towards their direction. The metal clanging onto the ship's floor was loud and clear. She immediately went to the Doctor and said,

"They're coming this way."

He nodded in response and hurriedly worked with the crew.

"Dammit!" One of the men said. The man's name was Paul Torkins. He was the ship's sole, surviving technician. Apparently, the rest had died upon the crash.

"What? What happened?" Laura asked.

Paul turned to her looking stressed. "Someone has to stay behind. They have to keep typing in the string of codes to keep this door unlocked for everyone and then to deadlock it again. It won't work from that side of the door. The controls are fried, it's not gonna-"

Suddenly, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver whirred and everyone heard the door open.

"Hohoho! There we go! Sonic Screwdriver, you beauty! The rest of you lot are-" The Doctor was saying until Laura cut him off.

"If you're going to say something rude, might as well cut it. The moment you say a rude comment to them, I will drag you by your ears, you got that?!"

The Doctor nodded his head in fear of the thought. Laura continued talking,

"They're victims too you know! Doctor, does anyone have to stay behind still? Or did you fix that too?"

The Doctor immediately quit his remark and shook his head. The device was already too messed up and he couldn't fix it even with the most advanced technology in the world.

The rest of the crew immediately ran through the hallways, trying to find the exit when Paul closed the door behind them. Laura immediately turned around and yelled, "PAUL!"

The man merely just signaled her to leave them and then turned around, running off.

That was when Laura and the Doctor heard the statement, "You will be deleted." And then Paul's screams reached their ears.

Laura could not shake the scream out of her mind as she ran after the rest of the crew.

With Paul gone, there was only Misha, Halyard, and Trophia left. Trophia, the acting captain of the crew, led them through the maze-like hallways. That was when they saw a split road. From one side came the cybermen, so they immediately chose the other route.

As they ran, Laura felt her muscles screaming in exhaustion. She had never needed to run so much ever in her life. Yet the adrenaline that seemed to pump throughout her body gave her the ability to continue pushing herself. But momentarily, Laura tripped on her own feet.

"Laura!" The Doctor yelled as turned around. He was too far away from her when one of the cybermen grabbed onto Laura's feet.

Laura felt the air leave her lungs as she turned around to see the cyberman up-close. Sure, the thing didn't look scary, but something about it's endless stare with no emotions unsettled her greatly.

The rest of the crew had taken the Doctor with them and now Laura was all alone.

"What do you want from me?" She asked.

The cybermen were silent for a minute until they responded with,

"You will be converted."

"Why?" Laura asked.

"You are the Doctor's companion. You will be the easiest way to show him how emotions are harmful." The cybermen responded.

"You will be transported to the cyber-ship" said the third cyberman.

With that, Laura and four other cybermen were transported into the main cyber-ship.

When Laura looked around her, fear finally kicked in and she could only mutter,

"Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?"


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Laura and the Oncoming Storm

Laura felt her body thump onto the ground roughly. Her head hit the cold, hard surface of the spaceship's floor. She had to blink several times to clear up the blurry images around her. Right after her vision seemed to clear, she felt her body being hoisted up by two metallic arms.

Laura looked around and instinctively gulped. The spaceship was massive, and she found herself in a room filled with cybermen. Her voice did not come out, and she began to shiver from the cold temperature.

"You are the Doctor's companion. You will be converted soon." A robotic voice said.

The voice came from the other end of the room, where a cyberman was sitting in a chair.

"Who are you?" Laura asked. She could only guess that this was the leader of the ship.

"I am the cyber planner. You will be silent until we retrieve the Doctor." It said.

Laura did not know what to think at the moment. She really did not know much about the Doctor so far. They only met a little before the other day, and barely a full day had passed for her since meeting him.

It was hard enough for her to acknowledge and readily understand the concept of extraterrestrial beings, but to be turned into one? She really felt dizzy thinking about it. Her mind was buzzing when suddenly another cyberman spoke up.

"There is an incoming message from the ship. It may be a message from the Doctor."

The cyber planner ordered for the message to be shown.

A video feed came up and Laura saw the Doctor and the rest of the crew looking back at the cyber planner.

"Hello! This is the Doctor speaking. May I speak to Laura?"

Laura was out of range for her to be shown apparently. She wanted to walk forward, but the cybermen continued to hold her back. The cyber planner began speaking.

"Doctor, you will be retrieved."

Laura saw the Doctor roll his eyes and state sarcastically, "Yes! That is why I'm still on this ship isn't it? How terrifying."

Suddenly, the Doctor's tone became very serious as he spoke slowly.

"Show me Laura. Show me that she is safe. Because if she was hurt, you'd better be very, very afraid."

The cyber planner was silent for a solid minute and stated, "Show the Time Lord the female human."

Laura was dragged over right by the cyber planner. She took a wary glance over at the robot before looking at the screen.

The Doctor let out a small breath of relief after seeing his companion still alive and human.

Laura just looked at the screen, waiting for the Doctor to continue talking.

"Laura, wait there. I will pick you up soon. And don't do anything stupid."

She nodded silently. The grips on her arm were starting to ache as she felt the blood slowly being disconnected from the rest of her arm. She fidgeted a little bit to let the blood flow, only for the cybermen to strengthen their grasp.

The cyber planner then stood up and said,

"Your companion will be converted. Unless you become one of us, Doctor."

"Now why would I want to be an emotionless, inhumane, robot?" The Doctor asked.

Laura rolled her eyes. Was he really going to insult a monster that could kill her whenever it wanted?

"We want your mind. We had used it once. The Time Lord mind is more useful than that of a human. We will use it to make the ultimate cyber planner."

The Doctor fell silent. He remembered having cyber-mites taking over his mind and his struggle with Mr. Clever, but his hearts ached upon remembering that it was one of the trips he had with his former companion Clara. The woman, who he could not save.

"Let Laura go. Return her to this ship. Then we might even be able to share a cup of tea." The Doctor said. His mind focused on getting Laura out of the cyberman ship.

"Are you negotiating?" The cyber planner asked.

The Doctor saw Laura breathe slowly to calm herself down. Raw fear was in her eyes. He did not want her to be afraid.

"Yes, maybe. As long as Laura comes back here. And YOU, come alone." The Doctor said.

The cyber planner fell silent again and then replied, with "No. You shall come here Doctor."

Then the message feed ended and Laura's heartbeat picked up again. The call was disconnected. She would not know whether the Doctor would come over. He was adamant about getting her back, but she wasn't sure just how much he would risk considering that there were other people on the ship back at the planet.

But she saw a teleport start to whirr and the Doctor appear.

"What about the others?" Laura asked. It really blurted out of her mouth before she had time to think about it.

"Their safe." Was all the Doctor said.

"How safe?" Laura asked. She wasn't sure what the Doctor was thinking. It was too short of a time gap for him to have able to evacuated everyone outside of the ship. And he even didn't have his TARDIS, so her doubt increased.

Her suspicions were confirmed when he didn't respond.

"You…" Was all Laura could mutter. She did not want to risk getting killed because of her talking.

The cyber planner then walked a little bit towards the Doctor and stated,

"You will be converted into our cyber planner!"

The Doctor then smiled. The smile sent a shiver down Laura's spine. She could see the anger behind the Doctor's eyes. It was as if there was a terrible rage that couldn't be held back once released. Another shot of fear ran through her.

"No. You will stop here and let Laura go. I don't care why you are even around this abandoned planet at this time period. It's wrong, but I don't care. So, if you don't want me to destroy every single one of your kind, let go of Laura and let us leave."

And with that, the cyber planner and the Doctor continued to reject each other's orders and continued to argue. Laura's eyes widened when she felt the grips on her arms slack a little. She looked at the Doctor carefully and found the sonic screwdriver slowly glowing within his sleeve. Laura smirked at the sight. When she thought she would be able to move her arms out of the cybermen's grip, the Doctor then said,

"You really shouldn't have let me stand on the teleport this whole time. You know why? I'm perfect at using the technology. And this whole time, there is something you all missed."

"What is that?" The cyber planner asked.

"Jammie Dodgers." The Doctor said, as he tossed two of them out from his pockets directly into the air towards the cyber planner.

Laura took the signal and ran towards the Time Lord. She felt his hand reach for her shoulder and then she felt herself being transported again.

"Ugh!" She groaned when she landed onto ice.

The adrenaline rush took a while to calm down. The Doctor stood up and helped Laura stand.

"Are you alright?" He asked. He looked her over for any serious injuries. He couldn't see any injuries.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine. Maybe a little bruising from the ice, but otherwise, I should be good." Laura replied. She caught her breath and looked up at the Doctor.

When she saw the genuine concern on his face, an instant replay of the Jammie Dodger incident popped up into her mind. Laura laughed.

"What's so funny?" The Doctor asked.

"Jammie Dodgers? Really?" Laura asked between her laughing and gasping for air.

But she sobered up quick when realized something. She was laughing. She hadn't done that in a very long time. And it hurt her that she laughed.

The Doctor didn't notice the flash of pain and sadness on Laura's faced as he focused on how to explain the incident. But Laura asked him a more serious question.

"What are you going to do?"

"What?" The Doctor asked, looking at the girl. Then he saw what she meant.

"I'm going to give them a chance. Everyone deserves at least a second chance. Even if they are terrible." He replied.

The hopes that the cybermen would leave them be was destroyed when they saw the ship explode from a distance.

Laura froze on spot. Color drained from her face as she thought of the worst-case scenario. She immediately looked over at the Doctor.

He looked at Laura and said, "Don't worry, the crew's safe."

He saw her sigh in relief and proceed to mess her hair up as if to relieve pent up stress.

"You confuse me so much!" Laura said.

"I tend to have that effect." He replied. Then he looked up at the sky, knowing where the cyberman ship was. And he took the dead cyber-mite from his pocket and then sonicked it.

Laura saw him do this and then witnessed the cyber-mite get teleported. She saw the look of anger come back to the Doctor's face.

"No more chances" he muttered and walked towards the desert area.

Laura followed when she saw an explosion from above.

She froze again and looked back at the Doctor.

"What did you do to that cyber-mite?" She asked, already knowing the answer. But she was seriously hoping for something else. A different answer.

"I stopped them from hurting you and the others." He replied.

Anger rose in Laura and she pulled him back, only to let him go after seeing his eyes. She recognized that look. She had seen it on herself, and knew better than to fight against it.

She just silently followed the Time Lord.

An hour later, they found the TARDIS with the crew, who had been waiting patiently for the Doctor and Laura to come back. The entire ride to help the crew was silent with tension between the Time Lord and his companion. After dropping them off, the Doctor pressed a few buttons and pulled some levers, before asking silently,

"Do you want to go back?"

Laura looked up at the Time Lord and thought carefully. Remembering the powerful rush of adrenaline that passed through her system, how she ran, exhilarated, and how she had laughed.

As she was thinking this through, she didn't notice the Doctor's face go from expectation, to anxious, to down-right nervous. He really wanted Laura to join. Something about her made him want to travel with her. But he wouldn't force her. He couldn't do that.

After what seemed like a long time, Laura replied with a, "yeah, I'll travel with you."

"You understand the risks of doing so?" He asked.

"Almost died today. I think I understand. Everywhere you go, danger follows. But, hey, I'm down with taking a break from my dreary, repetitive life. Let's go!"

The Doctor smiled and looked down to pull more levers and push more buttons.

Laura's smile faded a little and the façade came back when the Time Lord asked,

"Where do you want to go?"

"You mean, when do I want to go." Laura replied in a snarky manner.

"Haha. Ok, when?" He asked.

"The past. You can choose when and where, as long as it's before the 20th century." Laura replied.

And with that, they were off for their second adventure.


End file.
